AHF Blasts California Senate for Nixing $10M for STD Control as Rates
Explode in State

Within 96 hours of the Monday release of a blistering report by the
California Department of Public Health showing record rates of STDs in
the state, the California Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health today
rejected a request from AHF and Essential Access Health for a $10
million increase in the STD control budget at the Department of Public
Health.

Chlamydia cases in California are up 9% in 2017; gonorrhea up 16%;
and syphilis, up 20%. AHF singles out Senator Richard Pan, who
chairs the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health, for particularly harsh
criticism for his shortsightedness.

May 17, 2018 10:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time

LOS ANGELES--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--On the heels of the release of a damning report
from the California Department of Public Health on Monday showing
all-time high rates of STDs in the state, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
today blasted the California Senate—and singled out Senator Richard
Pan, who chairs the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health, for
particularly harsh criticism—for rejecting a request for an additional
$10 million for the STD control budget at the Department of Public
Health.

“The same week the State of California was embarrassed worldwide for its
record STD rates, news that was widely reported around the globe, the
California Senate shows how completely tone deaf it is and how deeply
the members have their heads in the sand”

“The same week the State of California was embarrassed worldwide for its
record STD rates, news that was widely reported around the globe, the
California Senate shows how completely tone deaf it is and how deeply
the members have their heads in the sand,” said AHF President Michael
Weinstein. “Of particular concern is the number of cases of
congenital syphilis, a preventable tragedy: 278 cases in 2017—including
30 stillbirths—up from 35 cases in 2012. The California Assembly will
take up the measure next Thursday, and we hope they view this additional
$10 million for STD control as a priority, approve the funding and show
their counterparts in the Senate the right thing to do.”

Earlier this year, AHF, with its partner Essential Access Health,
requested the $10 million increase in the STD control budget at the
Department of Public Health because of the inexorable and soaring STD
rates across the state. Today, the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health
rejected that request, leaving the state’s General Fund commitment to
STD control at a paltry $1.6 million statewide. The chair of the
subcommittee, a physician, refused to support the augmentation despite
representing Sacramento County, which experienced a 17% increase in
gonorrhea between 2016 and 2017 and is ranked 8th in the state for
Chlamydia and gonorrhea.

2017 STD Rates in California

Chlamydia, up 9% in 2017 in California from 2016 (218,710
cases, and the highest number since reporting began in 1990);

Gonorrhea, up 16% in 2017 to 75,450 California cases, with 33%
found among those under age 25; and

Syphilis, up 20% to 13,605 cases—the highest number in
California since 1987.

AHF has been promoting sexual health and STD screening through its
innovative public awareness and billboard campaigns for the past several
years in response to the overall skyrocketing rates of STDs nationwide,
particularly among young people and men-who-have-sex-with-men. Last week
in Los Angeles, it launched its “Gonorrhea
Alert” billboard campaign, a nationwide effort to educate about a
drug-resistant strain of the STD.

The “Gonorrhea Alert” billboard campaign is a follow up and parallels
AHF’s syphilis prevention and treatment billboard campaigns that have
included “Syphilis
is Serious” billboards which launched earlier this year and the
“Syphilis Explosion” outdoor advertising campaign which first starting
running in 2014. That campaign was followed by AHF’s “Syphilis Tsunami”
campaign which ran in Los Angeles in 2016.